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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28027905">Bad Weather</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/beifongsbitch/pseuds/beifongsbitch'>beifongsbitch</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Avatar: The Last Airbender</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, Angst and Feels, F/M, Hurt No Comfort, No Fluff, Rain, im serious, its tokka weekend yayy, this is all angsty owie</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 22:55:24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,323</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28027905</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/beifongsbitch/pseuds/beifongsbitch</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>tokka weekend 2020:D day 1- rain</p><p>Toph and Sokka are bad at communication:/ and just bad at feelings in general.</p><p> </p><p>Canon-compliant<br/>i dont own atla</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Toph Beifong/Sokka</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>31</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Bad Weather</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Toph sets her head on Sokka’s bare shoulder, adjusting a few times to find a comfortable position. The room reeks of sex and sweat, hair is plastered to their foreheads. They’re both smiling like idiots, and still a little bit out of breath.</p><p>Sheets of heavy rain land loudly and gracelessly outside. Toph’s never been a big fan of the rain. It messes with her ‘vision’. If she was inside, where her senses weren’t being bombarded by the constant pattering of the raindrops, she found it somewhat tolerable. However, being in Sokka’s arms during a rainstorm made it so much better than just ‘tolerable’. </p><p>The rhythmic rise and fall of his chest almost lulls her to sleep before Sokka admits, “I love storms.” </p><p>Tilting her head up towards him, she asks, “Why?” Genuinely curious as to how anyone could enjoy that chaos.</p><p>“They make the world seem alive.” He peers through the window on the other side of their room. “They kind of remind me of you.”</p><p>She cocks her head to the side. “Hm?”</p><p>“They’re so strong and powerful,” he pauses to look at her. “But at the same time they’re stunning. Almost too pretty for how rough and intense they are.”</p><p>A light blush finds its way onto her cheeks as if she’s a young teenager, not a 33 year-old woman. It seems no matter how many years she's known him, no matter how long they’ve been... <i>romantically involved,<i> he still makes her feel butterflies. </i></i></p><p>
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</p><p>She lets a moment pass before smiling, “That was really cute.” </p><p>He laughs lightly before turning onto his side. With his left arm still hooked underneath Toph’s head, he wraps his right one around her waist and pulls her flush against him. Bare chests pressed together so tightly they can feel the study pulsing of each other's heart, beating as one. </p><p>Moving her awkwardly placed arms,Toph slides her right arm under a pillow and raises the other one to Sokka’s jaw. Her thumb brushes over his cheekbone as she says, “I love you.”</p><p>His response was drowned out by a particularly loud clap of thunder, which they both flinch at. </p><p> “I love you too.” He repeats.</p><p> </p><p>------------------------------------------</p><p> </p><p>Hakoda is on his deathbed and the Southern Water Tribe needs someone to take his place. </p><p>Toph knew he'd have to make the decision eventually, but she didn't think it would be this soon. </p><p>"This is my duty to my tribe. To my dad." His words were muffled by harsh, cold wind that stung both of their faces. "I'm sorry, Toph."</p><p>Standing there soaking wet, she maintains her usual stoic, impassive composure that's hiding the shattering of her heart. She knows there was no point in trying to fight him on this anymore, so she bites her tongue. Tears warmed her cheeks as she turned and walked away from him without saying anything.</p><p> ------------------------------------------</p><p>"He told me 'it was his duty to his people,'" Toph scoffed. "What about his duty as a father. He left me. He left our daughters. Because of what? Some fucking obligation he put on himself? </p><p>"They could have found someone else, someone that wanted to. Someone that didn't have to abandon their family." Her voice cracked slightly on that last sentence. The pain and anger behind her words was almost tangible, it broke Aang's heart. </p><p>The past few weeks have been a series of tears, yelling, broken promises, and empty apologies. Toph fought with him for hours trying to convince him not to leave, but apparently it wasn't enough. </p><p>"I knew they would want Sokka to replace Hakoda," she continues, " I knew that one day he would have to choose between his family and his tribe." The anguish in her voice from just a minute ago is replaced by pure resentment, "But I didn't think he'd choose wrong." </p><p> ------------------------------------------</p><p>Aang, Katara, and Zuko were also reasonably upset with Sokka and his decision to move back down South.</p><p>Katara tried pleading with him, reminding him of how painful their dad leaving them was. </p><p>
  <i>"Why are you putting them through the same thing?"</i>
</p><p>
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  <i>"Dad wants me to replace him. This is the type of honor that runs in our family." </i>
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</p><p> </p><p>Zuko gave him the 'Honor Talk'.</p><p>
  <i>"Taking your dad’s place and leading your tribe isn't going to bring you honor. Honor is something you earn for yourself by choosing to do what's right. Is leaving Toph, and Lin, and Su, right?"<i></i></i>
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  <i>"I can't abandon my people."<i></i></i>
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</p><p> </p><p>The last person to talk to Sokka about this, was Aang. He knew he already had his mind made up and wasn't going to change it. </p><p>
  <i>"During your little quest to ‘honor your ancestors’, you're tearing apart your family. Why do you care more about the honor of your dead predecessors than your very much living family?"<i></i></i>
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</p><p>The ire behind his brother-in-law's words hurt. So. Damn. Bad. Which only made Sokka get defensive.</p><p>
  <i>"Do not try to fucking guilt trip me."<i></i></i>
</p><p>
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</p><p>------------------------------------------</p><p> </p><p>So, he leaves. And it absolutely wrecks him, but he was doing what he thought was best. Was he being selfless by putting his feelings aside and serving his tribe, or was he selfish for choosing a political position and family traditions over his actual family? He tells himself it's the former, but if you ask anyone else, they’d probably disagree.</p><p>Trying to convince himself he was doing the right thing, he forces himself to think logically. There was no avoiding going back to the Southern Water Tribe, even if they did find another person to take over as chief, he would’ve still had to spend years training them. It was better for him to just do it. Still, that doesn’t make it any easier.</p><p>
  <i>Your future is full of struggle and anguish, most of it self-inflicted<i></i></i>
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</p><p>Aunt Wu’s prediction plays in his head over and over again. He hates how true her words are.</p><p>------------------------------------------ </p><p>Months turn into years and years turn into decades and then some. There was the occasional visit to Republic City, most of the time they were work related, but he always made time to visit his family.</p><p>The tension between him, his sister and brother-in -law eventually dissipated and they made up. The tension between him and Toph was a different story. So many things left unsaid, so many feelings unresolved. </p><p>------------------------------------------</p><p>The night Suyin leaves for her grandparents house, there's a storm. </p><p>Toph lays in bed listening to the staccato of raindrops, flooding her with memories. Some good, some bad. She chooses to focus on the bad.</p><p>She can't help but feel angry at him. And at herself. The decision he made 16 years ago tore their family apart. Both blood and found. Now she just did the same thing that she was so furious at Sokka for doing. </p><p>Sitting up, Toph brings her knees to her chest and rests her head on them. The weather is too loud for her to fall asleep, so she just listens.</p><p>The sound of the rumbling of thunder makes his hearty and genuine laughter echo in the back of her mind. </p><p>Whistles of wind in tree branches remind her of Lin's infancy. When they were consistently woken up by Lin’s unnecessary screaming in the middle of the night. When they took turns checking on the baby and fixing whatever she was crying about.<em> When she was confident that Sokka loved her just as much as she did him.<em> Deep down she knows he loved her, and still does, but that doesn’t stop her from feeling unsure about it at times. It doesn’t make  anything hurt less. </em></em></p><p>
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</p><p>Emotions are taxing, so she lies down when sitting upright becomes too tiring. She tries to project her feelings onto the cold, unforgiving winds and violent rain. Forcing the sting of love and loss onto Mother Nature. So focused on the chaos outside, she barely notices the silent tears that leave wet trails on her cheeks. </p><p>
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</p><p>The gale calmed as she fell asleep.</p><p>
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  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>hey baes:P uh this is the first fic ive ever written so my apologies if its kinda clunky and doesn't flow rly well:// hopefully i get better at this lol</p></blockquote></div></div>
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